Linen shortages cuts ops at Helen Joseph
Cancellation of surgery is stressful for both patients and staff
Shortages of clean linen have forced the cancellation of operations at the Helen Joseph Hospital for the past two weeks.
“It happened yesterday and also last week Tuesday, as well as intermittently previously,” said Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng MEC Shadow for Health Jack Bloom.
Bloom said, “The problem seems to be a shortage of clean linen from the laundry and also the occasional breakdown of autoclave machines that sterilise the linen.
“The cancellation of surgery is stressful for both staff and patients, and adds to the long waiting period for operations.
“Linen at this hospital is supplied by the laundry at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital which is unreliable because of a broken boiler.”
“The linen supply problem is very easy to fix.
“Hospital managers should be able to use private laundries which are cheaper and more efficient, rather than locked into using a state laundry that often does not deliver,” he said.
Bloom added that he will push the Gauteng Health Department to do this, otherwise our hospitals will continue to be plagued by unnecessary linen problems.
